Tweet sends Greek Olympian home

By Gene Ryan Briones on 07/25/2012 22:43 PST

Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou could possibly win the gold in the Olympics. But with only a couple of days more to go before the sporting event opens in London, her country is sending her home for a tweet that was deemed racist by many. The Olympic Committee decided to ban her from the games after mocking African immigrants in her country. In a tweet she posted a few days ago, Papachristou said: “With so many Africans in Greece. At least the mosquitoes of West Nile will eat homemade food!”

I’m not sure what that means, but BBC says she was actually referring to the West Nile virus and somewhat linking it to Africans living in Greece. But her tweet could be just the tip of the iceberg. Papachristou was rumored to be a supporter of the Golden Dawn party in Greece – a party that criticized the country’s stance on immigration. Papachristou reportedly re-tweeted several links to videos promoting the views of Golden Dawn.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee has confirmed the report saying that Papachristou has been removed from the country’s team for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party. Papachristou later apologized for her “tasteless joke” and said that she could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races. But for the Olympian, it was already too little, too late.